How much should a refund be?? Should it include the Airbnb fees the guest paid, plus the fees that you as the host were charged? or should it be the straight amount listed on the calendar? Short story: guests leave after one night of 4-night stay after choosing not to add his cousin to the booking. And they left at 7 pm (checkout is at 11 am). Of course, I was not able to recoup any $$ by re-renting the house. Why should I be responsible for all the fees if guest choses to leave rather than comply with house rules? When I agreed to refund, I was only thinking of refunding what I was getting for the nights, not what they were paying. The guest has now asked for a refund for 3 nights at the rate he paid, which includes his Airbnb fees. Should I decline, or offer a different another amount?
Below is my message to them which summarizes the issues I had with them:
"I'm so sorry, my intent is not to make you feel unwelcome or uncomfortable but is really to ease my concerns. Please let me explain them to you: you are only our 3rd time doing Airbnb, and just the last time before you, there was someone who snuck in an additional guest. So when you arrived with 5 people, not 4 as you had booked it, I was naturally concerned that a pattern was emerging with our Airbnb bookings. I asked that you only have 4 guests, and you agreed; however when you arrived back last night after dinner, it appeared that the security camera was being blocked, ostensibly to bring back the 5th person... ? I really don't know. We have the security camera for both your and our protection, and can monitor who is coming and going to make sure that only authorized guests enter and that there are no break-ins. So whether the camera was blocked intentionally or not, it raised a red flag for us.
This made me realize that I forgot to get your IDs, and did not even know the names of the others in your party, nor any other information other than the small amount of information you provided in these messages. In addition, you are newly-signed up to Airbnb and have no ratings that I could review. If your cousin in on Airbnb and is the booker, as you said, then he should have ratings that I can review, and that would make me more comfortable about having you and your family in our home. Thus the reason for asking for him to be put on the booking. In hindsight, I realize I should have asked you to do this when you booked, and then I would not have had to ask for his ID, but again, we are new to this Airbnb process and learning as we go, and this was recommended to me on the Airbnb website.
FYI, our insurance requires only 4 persons in the home, and also requires the identification of all the persons.
As far as how to proceed, if you are not comfortable adding Amro to the booking, as recommended by Airbnb, then my comfort level is not relieved and we would ask that you leave with of course a refund for the nights not used."
